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European Space Agency's Rosetta now in orbit around Comet C-G

By Charlie Brennan, Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
08/06/2014 10:24:47 AM MDT

Updated:
08/06/2014 03:39:02 PM MDT

Close-up detail focusing on a smooth region on the "base" of the "body" section of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The image was taken by the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft early today. Rosetta carries instrumentation from Boulder's Southwest Research Institute. (Courtesy photo / European Space Agency)

Rosetta found its stone early today, hitting a mark in space that was charted more than 10 years ago and giving a Boulder science and technology firm a claim to history.

Rosetta, the $1.7 billion mission by the European Space Agency, completed its decade-long pursuit of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko — known informally as Comet C-G — with a six-minute firing of its thrusters at 3 a.m. MDT, slowing its speed to a walking pace in relation to its target.

Rosetta, which carries science instrumentation designed and built by Southwest Research Institute of Boulder, has now been inserted into the comet's orbit, and will accompany it — placing a lander on the comet in November — from now through its closest approach to the sun next August.

The first space mission ever to rendezvous with a comet is scheduled to continue to December 2015, but there is a chance it could be extended beyond that.

"I was watching the event on the Internet," said SwRI's Alan Stern, who is the principal investigator on Alice, the name for the spacecraft's ultraviolet imaging spectrometer. "It's spectacular. We couldn't have picked a better comet. It's going to teach us so much about not only comets, but about the solar system."

SwRI's San Antonio, Texas, headquarters also contributed an ion electron sensor for Rosetta, an instrument that is part of a larger package of scientific instruments on the spacecraft.

Stern said he did not feel too much suspense as he watched Rosetta's deep space braking maneuvers early today, even though it is one of the most significant benchmarks for a mission that saw its planning phase start as far back as 1995.

"I was not concerned about it to be honest, and the reason for that is the spacecraft has conducted a whole series of maneuvers with these same engines since June," Stern said, referring to a series of orbital correction maneuvers. "Those were larger and more difficult. Now that we're just doing the trim maneuvers, and with the history of those big burns going well, I didn't have much concern."

Rosetta's pursuit of Comet C-G included three gravity-assist flybys of Earth and one of Mars to keep it on course to its rendezvous. This complex path also allowed Rosetta to pass by asteroids Šteins and Lutetia, producing unprecedented views and scientific data on the two objects.

"After 10 years, five months and four days travelling towards our destination, looping around the Sun five times and clocking up 6.4 billion kilometers, we are delighted to announce finally 'we are here,'" Jean-Jacques Dordain, the European Space Agnecy's director general, said in a news release.

"Europe's Rosetta is now the first spacecraft in history to rendezvous with a comet, a major highlight in exploring our origins. The discoveries can begin."

Today's operation leaves Rosetta just 100 kilometers above the comet's surface. Over the next six weeks, it will perform two triangular-shaped trajectories in front of the comet, the second at a distance of just 50 kilometers, according to the space agency.

The on-board suite of instruments, during that time, will examine the surface of Comet C-G, looking for the ideal place to set down its lander on Nov. 11. Rosetta also will try for close, near-circular orbit at 30 kilometers or closer, depending on whether the comet's activity permits it.

"We're very excited, and of course the comet is going to be doing nothing but getting more and more interesting," Stern said. "This thing is going to be a time-lapse movie that is going to knock our socks off."

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